Circle Eight: The Thieves

While trying to get to the next area of Hell, Virgil and I encountered treacherous terrain. I head him say some fearful and uneasy words: "Climb here, but first test it to see if it will hold your weight". I didn't want to consider what would happen if I were to fall again. I gently tested each patch of rock before I adventured too bravely. If I didn't have the knowledge that this bank wasn't too steep, I would have turned back. I would have turned back immediately. I thought my heart would beat through my flesh as my lungs heaved. Virgil's words, asking me how I expected to climb a more virtuous height later if I couldn't get up this one, encouraged me as well. I lied a bit and told him that I was strong and felt steady here. I attempted to slow my breath. This caused more heat in my chest but I tried for the sake of my guide.

Finally my body was poised to look into the next ditch. My eyes took in coils upon coils of serpents. Their masses terrified me. I didn't want to think about them climbing all over me, traveling into my cloak, running over my skin with their rough scales. My horror could never match that of the men running from these snakes down in the ditch. They were nude and didn't have a hope of escape. Snakes coiled around their arms and ankles. This bound them and made their bodies vulnerable to whatever other serpents wanted to do to their immobile, struggling bodies.Each sinner seemed to be covered in knots.

One sinner ran up a large boulder. A snake slid after him and flew up, its fangs landing in the man's shoulder. The second the teeth entered the man's shoulder, he transformed into a pile of ash. I expected to see the serpent making his way through the ash, but instead, the dust rose and resumed the shape of the sinner. The entire process reminded me of the death and rebirth of the Phoenix. This poor man has the look of his face of someone who had just been slapped into sobriety.

Not only were these creatures regenerating from ash, they were also undergoing another metamorphosis. When you read this, I urge you to understand that it is true. I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. As I looked to the ground, I watched a lizard come toward me, scuttling around bodies and serpents, and attach itself to a sinner's front.

The lizard's teeth sunk into the face of the sinner, its claws sunk their way into his forehead and shoulder, hind feet met thighs, and the tail coiled between the legs of the sinner. It couldn't have held on any tighter. They became one as if they were gradients of a sunset converging with one another. The final product was neither man nor beast. Endless and painful transformation was the end result for all of these thieves. No feature was safe from transformation of flesh to scales.

Circle Eight: The Hypocrites

The only footsteps I heard now where Virgil's soft ones and my harsh ones on Hell's earth. No more did I hear demon claws scraping behind us. In silence, my mind wandered. These demons didn't seem capable of practical reason. They didn't want to help us to begin with, therefore, why should they let us go so easily? My head was filled with imagined sounds of their pursuit of us. I began to wonder whether our procession of two would increase in number again. My fear led to instinct; the instinct to hide. I consulted Virgil who admitted to having the same fears that I did. He suggested trying to slip into the next pit.

Just as he made this suggestion, I saw their wings. Without time for thought, Virgil grabbed me and we slid down the wall. I felt that he cared more for me than himself. I imagined that he had a lot to answer to if anything were to happen to me under his care. I looked up into the faces of the demons and realized that they couldn't follow us; they were tethered to their ditch.

Once I felt safe, I looked upon the new punishment before my eyes. Each figure in this new ditch proceeded around in a circle. They were hooded in cloaks. Each cloak was black in color and made of lead. I listened to them moan and considered what strength such a task would take. These were the hypocrites. They moaned as they carried the weight of the cloak.

I began to talk to some of those who walked perpetually but was distracted by the sight of a crucified body on the ground. I even saw Virgil marvel at this sight. This shocked me, for Virgil wasn't one to do this. He was always encouraging me not to stare too long and move on quickly. Coming out of his trance, he asked one of the sinners for directions to our next destination. We quickly learned that the demons were leading us the wrong way. We had been lied to. I felt justified in my feelings about them now. The sinner set us back on the right path and we continued. This blow weighed down my shoulders as a lead cloak may have.

Circle Eight: The Grafters

In this section of Hell, I found a sea of pitch. What is usually used for fixing holes in ships which sit on water is now the liquid itself. The liquid was the consistency of glue and could be mistaken for tar. It boiled and bubbled up as it shifted and breathed. I tried to look closer but I didn't see any forms in the pitch, just bubbles rising, popping, then dissolving.

Suddenly, a figure was spotted quickly making his way toward us. He was a huge black demon, much like the ones we saw cracking whips earlier. His face was full of rage and twisted with hate at the sight of us. He was holding a sinner over each shoulder. He dropped one of the sinners after consulting with another demon and I watched as the man fell toward the pitch. I didn't want to be next on that quick journey. My guide told me to stay low while he consulted with the beasts.

He used the argument that Divine Will brought him this far, so they must let us pass. If we had gotten through everything so far they should let us pass as well. I felt that my guide had argued his point well. However, I again doubted my situation for a moment. Though Divine Will conquered in the end, what could happen before we were brought to safety? One wrong step, one vicious demon, and I was in the pitch trying to breathe just like the sea as it bubbled.

The demon dropped his pitchfork and offered us safety and assistance. For all that I hear these demons and men scorn God, they fear him a great deal. I walked out from my hiding place and once again worried that the demons would break their agreement. They chattered behind me as they walked. Asking one another if they should poke and prod at me with claws. Those claws would easily rip through me. They would make me suffer. I didn't take my eyes off of the demons. I wanted to go on alone. I knew that we needed a guide because the footing was treacherous but these certainly weren't creatures to be trusted. Virgil assured me that I wouldn't be harmed. Though I trusted him, I knew that these demons would leap at me if Virgil strayed too far away. I clung next to him and tried not to convey fear.

As we traveled I kept my eyes on the pitch. I saw sinners breaking to the surface for just a moment of solace. Then would quickly be submerged again. One chose to stay up for just a second too long. Unfortunately, I watched as one of the demons ran a hook through the sinner's hair and threw him back in. I was allowed to ask the sinner a few questions as he sank near the shore. I wanted to know if any Italians boiled with him. The demons grew slowly impatient. They were more interested in this man than in me getting my answers. Right before my eyes they took a chunk out of his arm with a pitchfork. While they were distracted with their new plaything, and as they argued after he jumped back into the pitch, Virgil and I slipped away.

Circle Eight: The Fortune Tellers and Diviners

From where I was standing, I had a clear view of what was below Virgil and I. It was as if they were all moving in a funeral procession. Sobs could be heard as they moved at their slow pace. Upon closer inspection, I could see that their faces were distorted. Not only that, but their heads were attached to their necks backward.

These were the fortune tellers. Because they had looked forward in life, they must now always look behind them. I don't believe that anyone has ever been seen who looked so disfigured. Seeing human beings so distorted and miserable made me upset. They didn't even have the comfort of crying down their fronts. I began to weep at the sight of their monstrous bodies.

My guide again reprimanded me for my emotion and reminded me not to question God's judgement. He didn't seem to be as struck by visuals as I did. This was all new to me. He had time to grow accustomed to Hell. I didn't think that he was being fair, yet I knew he was right. We had to press on and I had to gain more confidence with dealing with my surroundings. Though Hell was terrifying, what I might see in the future, in Heaven, even if it is grand, could cause me just as much shock.

Circle Eight: Bolgia Three, The Simoniacs

Virgil and I approached the next dip in Hell's earth and saw long rows of holes made out of stone. They looked just like the ones that are used for Baptisms. I remember, not too long ago, I saved a child from drowning in one of these pieces. The young boy had escaped his mother's watchful eye and was intrigued by the water. When no one was looking, he climbed inside. He was a bit too big for the hole and became wedged inside at an odd angle, head first, and sputtered and flailed. I was able to break the baptismal encasing so that the boy could breathe again. The boys life was more important than preserving the religious piece.

Much like the little boy whose chubby legs were waving for my help, these stone pieces also held sinners whose legs were sprawled above them. Flames licked up, caressing their calves. Each sinner was stuck and didn't have the slightest hope of being saved.

Virgil and I came upon the head sinner in that area, the one who squirmed his legs most and burnt brightest: Pope Nicholas III. Seeing him in Hell pleased me for I detested those who corrupt church office. I went as far as to tell him that silver and gold are the only gods that he worships. I wanted to say much more but I knew that our time was limited. My guide once again was praising me for denouncing a sinner. God was right in his judgements. Who was I to question him by feeling pity?

Virgil lifted me up and carried me up the rocky wall up to the bridge so that we could look into the next ditch.

Circle Eight (The Evil Ditches)

The next area we entered was a great circle of stone that slopes downward slowly. Each slope is divided into ten concentric ditches and in each ditch is a different group of sinners receiving punishment. Virgil and I approached the first ditch which held the panderers and seducers. Each sinner that we saw was nude and walking at a very fast pace. I wondered if they were trying to get away from someone or something. Then I wondered why they weren't running instead of walking. After looking closer, I saw their pursuers. Blackened demons chased these men with whips the size of myself. If the sinner did not walk at the right pace, they would be struck with the whip.

Farther off, in the next ditch, we were met with the smell of excrement. Steam from the filth rose to our nostrils and I considered turning back once more. Not only were my eyes and ears suffering, but my nostrils were now as well. I realized how deeply enthralled with this whole process I was. There was no way that I could turn back. I couldn't call upon any great beasts myself. Getting through Hell could help me toward being more powerful, more brave, more dedicated. Once again, I realized I must press on. I looked further into the ditch. People were flowing through this river of excrement. I saw someone that I thought I knew, but I could barely tell for he was covered in the muck from the river. I was disgusted with him; with those who were here.

Circle Seven: Round Three, The Violent Against Art

The beast that was before my eyes impressed me more than anything I had seen in Hell up to this point. His tail was sharp and Virgil described him as the creature that makes the whole world stink. My guide was able to summon the beast to the ground, right near him and I. The wind from his wings pushed against my chest but Virgil didn't falter. He landed much like a resting dog would. His chest and head hit the edge of the cliff and he was calm. His face was even innocent. He did not seem like someone or something capable of being underhanded. The body of the beast was mostly reptilian, but his arms were spiked with fur. My guide led me toward the monster, then changed his mind. He suggested that I look down toward the edge of a small cliff and take in my surroundings.

The people on the ledge were burning. Their very skin was smoking. Like those being showered with fire, these men were jerking around madly. I didn't observe anyone I knew in the group, but I did notice that each man had a purse hanging from his neck. On the purse was their family crest. None of them looked at me, them stared at their possessions instead as if the strings that held them on might break any minute.

I went back to my guide, as he had told me not to stay long with these men, who had already mounted the great beast. He wanted me to get on the beast. Needless to say, I was terrified, especially after discovering that the tail was poisonous. I trembled at Virgil's every word. However, Virgil had reprimanded me before for being a coward in the past. I needed to trust him. I needed to mount the beast and continue my journey. I remembered the mountain and how much I wanted to make my way to the top. That moment seemed like ages ago. I wanted to be brave.

I climbed onto the beast and before I could ask to be tethered, Virgil held onto me. He told this monster, the Geryon, that we were ready or flight. I don't think that anyone has ever been as terrified as I was when the Geryon slipped its feet from the cliff and we began our descent. I wondered if its wings would be able to catch the air. If I fell, I didn't know where I would fall to. All I could see around me was blackness. We were flying downward in a spiral and the lower we descended into Hell the more cries I heard and the more fire I began to see.

I was entirely surprised when we made it to the bottom of the abyss. I had assumed the worst and now it was time to prepare myself for the rest of the journey.